Metamorphosis is a hard-cover bound book which contains pristine information from a ten-year review of an extraordinary and sustained development in Indian dance (music implied) in Singapore - something quite different from publications in this field in previous eras. The book is filled with colourful photographs, enthusiastic labelling and lots of interesting text. It is a capture of migrating arts events between Singapore’s DIAP (Dance India Asia Pacific), dovetailing a mass of projects in Singapore, with special links to India (Milapfest) and Australia (Monash University and others there). DIAP too has recently migrated into a modified platform called IPAC (Indian Performing Arts Convention). It is managed through Singapore and reflects the growing importance of this island to Asian arts expression. IPAC has an unfolding plan which I think is worth following and writing about. The next big book will be on music - as it was ptomised in this current volume of Metamorphsis.
A new generation of younger arts leaders and followers are driving this outreach. It seems to have originated from one of the leading arts organisations in Singapore – APSARAS Arts Ltd. One person who is central to this development is a young new leader, Mr. Aravinth Kumarasamy (pictured above), who has grown up in Singapore as a performer and blossomed into an arts leader and planner. He works on the strengths of past contributors (including legends) and ensures inputs from India in particular, as well as the Pacific region, where Indian art forms thrive in creatively new ways. Aravinth also seems to be aware of the importance of industry impact, although this difficult subject has no conclusive information on real impact from his essay in this publication! Nevertheless, industry is vital to current arts transformation, and I am sure it will be kept in sight.
Aravinth’s chapter on Lec-Dems (lecture demonstrations) is the highlight of this book - a direct reflection of the importance of making artistic elements directly informative through accurately placed speech, knowledgeable demonstrations and presented by experts. There have been some stirings on this subject in Singapore, in various other ways in some music institutions. Perhaps, lec-dems will grow into a multimedia series in the future.
An interesting set of short chapters called “Scholarly Insights” put Barathanatyam as an important centre piece of South Indian high art which can be the moving foundation of South Indian creative drives. There were also two studies about composition that would be of interest to musicologists at large: a. Dr. Gayatri Kannan’s summation on one of South India’s great female composers, Padhukka, who in her words wrote visual music – a term that could be developed much further; b. Dr. Arudra, who made analysis of javalis (songs that place Bharatanatyam in the orbit of the raga-tala consterlation). A listing from among a sample analysis appears in this secton. Both, could help musicology push forward, if there was a way to expand the scope of IPAC. Conservatories in Southeast Asia are presently groping in this area.
Metamorphosis was compiled and edited by Vidhya Nair, who has done due-diligence in coordinating such a vast collection of material on local arts legends in this field, as well as, a fair-record of bold and energetic programmes which took place in the last decade – including the contributions of the Singapore National Arts Council, the Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay, the Temple of Fine Arts (another leading Indian arts institution) and even Sruti, a publishing database for Indian artefacts.
For those who want to obtain a copy, please send an email to:
aravinth.kumarasamy@mac.com
